StratCom 16?
Yup. We now explore how to express the thoughts that drive us forward in life.
Stories are the basic unit of meaning
We have moved from getting smarter, to translating thoughts to action, to upgrading by gamification. Each of these parts of our orientation has its own vocabulary. And now we can start putting it all together. We can focus on how to express our thoughts in units that are universally understood and embraced.
But first, a quick quiz: What are the 2 stages that Gabriele Oettingen proposes we use to succeed in mastering a challenge? The answer is at the bottom of this post. Read it now, or after. It is your choice!
Here is the core proposition: To be able to master communication as a tool, we need to know how to structure what we think and say over time. We need to master the “basic unit” of all meaning.
The basic unit of meaning? If there is such a thing, then each thing we say and do must fit into it. And if we can identify and use this basic unit, we are in harmony with time as it flows by. We know how to structure what we do to guarantee that it has meaning.
So what is the basic unit? The answer is so simple that we overlook it. Humans only understand things in terms of their place in a story. The past, present and future context of the thing we observe.
To grasp this, consider for a moment what gives meaning to anything. The thing itself only has meaning in a given context. So, for example, a bright red Ferrari may have meaning to a young stud trying to impress his first date. That same object loses its meaning if it runs out of fuel. Or if it is in the middle of the desert or on the moon. The key point: meaning comes out of the relationship between things and their context. Stories bring out that relationship.
To go a bit deeper, think for a moment of “absurdist theater” like “Waiting for Godot“. Throughout the play, the two characters on the stage talk and do things. But they make clear that nothing of significance can happen until Godot arrives — and of course, he never does. It is a depiction of events with no meaning, and for that reason, absurd. Events with no greater context are meaningless. There is no story.
The absurd came into vogue in the 20th century as a reaction to an overly rigid social context. A context where individuals were merely “producers” and “consumers” of goods and services. It is easy to see why this artistic rebellion gained traction in that context. The social context precluded people from building their unique and individual stories.
The same questions that the absurdist artists like Beckett explored apply to our lives as well. We all crave meaning. Csikszentmihalyi argues that life has no meaning other than what we create. Put another way, not only we are free to create and tell our own stories, we have no choice but to do so if we strive to find purpose in life. We make events in our lives meaningful by placing them in the context that we create. And the more conscious we are of our choices in creating context, the more control we exert over our life stories. The alternative is to endure the events of life as do the two characters waiting for Godot.
So, in getting started with this focus on story telling, what story or stories are you telling about your life?
Want to go deeper?
- Read John Sadowsky on “Personal Stories and Meaning”
- Read Shakespeare’s speech on the absurdity of life from Macbeth
- Read Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” to see how stories “wake up” Mr. Scrooge
Answer to quick quiz: Gabriele Oettengen proposes that we move beyond “positive thinking” by first visualizing our goal and then identifying the real world barriers that we must overcome to realize it.
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